The draft riots in the city had begun (July, 1863) and all business was at a standstill. The three hundred dollars' clause was the cause of the trouble. A man in moderate circumstances could pay that amount and be exempt from military service, but a poor man would be compelled to go. The State militia being away, the city was defenceless. Besides, there were thirty thousand known criminals among the population, and a great number of rebel sympathizers. The drawing of names for the draft took place at Forty-second Street and Second Avenue. Early in the morning a large mob gathered and very quickly drove the officers from the building and gutted the place most thoroughly. The police from that precinct came running up Second Avenue, and used their clubs very freely. When they got close to the mob, affairs were different. The rioters disarmed the police and gave them a most unmerciful beating, several being killed outright. One had sought refuge in a house, where he was found hidden under a mattress and thrown out of a second-story window. Everything in the building was destroyed and the place set on fire. The same result happened at every house where a policeman had been assisted or sheltered. Next the Invalid Corps, composed of disabled soldiers, made a charge on the crowd.
They were disarmed and driven back, and in a short time news of the riot spread over the city and pandemonium reigned for the time being. All places of business were closed and not a policeman dared to leave the station-houses. A number of good citizens took possession of the armories and arsenals and guarded them from capture by the rioters. Buildings in different parts of the city were set on fire, and the firemen would be on hand with their engines, but would not be allowed to throw a single stream of water. The Coloured Orphan Asylum was pillaged and burnt to the ground. The Old Firemen's was an organization that gave its services without pay, but its members were exempt from military duty. Their engines were worked by hand, the companies having from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five members each, and were always present at the fires, but were powerless to do anything. The mob had sense enough not to attempt to injure any of the engines, as that would have precipitated a fight with the fire laddies, and they had the reputation of being fighters from the word "Go."
Down town, the rioters made an attack on the New York Tribune building, but old Horace Greeley was prepared for war. The doors and windows were barricaded with bales of paper and behind that were all the employees, all heavily armed. The mob took in the situation and went after something that was easier, such as chasing negroes into the East and North rivers and watching them drown. At Twenty-first Street they caught several and hanged them to lamp-posts; then straw mattresses were placed under them and set on fire. United States marines were sent from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to guard the United States Treasury building on Wall Street, as well as the banks in that neighbourhood. Towards evening the rioters became drunk and more reckless; nothing could be done to check them, and all the respectable citizens anticipated a night of terror. Fortunately, about eight o'clock a heavy rain commenced to fall, and that caused the drunken brutes to disappear. The rain also extinguished the fire in the many ruins in different localities. The next day the weather was quite pleasant, and the rioters, early in the morning, recommenced their work of destruction; houses would be pillaged and then set on fire. The lower class of people, especially the women and children from the tenement-houses, could be seen carrying off everything that was portable. The thieves were very busy stealing all the valuables when a house was first raided, and they were usually the first to make a demonstration at any building, the mob being always ready to follow, on general principles. The police remained in the station-houses, not one of them daring to come outside, as it would have been certain death to do so.
Gun and hardware stores were broken into and looted of all arms and ammunitions, and, by that means, a large number of the most desperate rioters became armed. A mob composed of about five thousand men started for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, situated on Madison Square, considered at that time the finest and most aristocratic hotel in the United States. As they came close to the building, yelling loudly, "Burn the Fifth Avenue! Loot the Fifth Avenue!" all anticipating an exciting time as well as plenty of rich plunder, the whole thing was suddenly changed. The occupants of the hotel had been watching the advance of the mob—not knowing their intention—and as the rioters entered the Square, howling and hooting, every window in the building was occupied by the guests, who loudly cheered and waved handkerchiefs to show that they were in full sympathy with the mob. That ended the affair, as the rioters were not disposed to injure any of their openly avowed Copperhead friends. The cheers were returned, and no other demonstration was made. The Fifth Avenue was a regular resort for secessionists and rebel sympathizers during the war. In any other country such a place would have been closed up and all of the occupants put in prison.
Towards night a few of the militia arrived in the city, and the rioters killed a few of them by filing from the windows and house-tops in the tenement districts. The morning of the third day more troops arrived, and the mob scattered in all directions upon the approach of the soldiers, only to mass together again in another locality. In the morning a regiment of infantry marched down Second Avenue and the colonel stopped on some private business on Twenty-seventh Street, when two rioters sneaked up behind and knocked him senseless with a club. Then the crowd quickly gathered, a rope was procured, and the colonel was strung up to a lamp-post. In the meantime the regiment was marching along in complete ignorance of their colonel's fate. The body was soon cut down and dragged through the streets, receiving all kinds of ill-treatment. Rioters' wives hurled paving-stones at the prostrate body, and what was most strange was the fact of his retaining life until late in the afternoon. He was a very powerful man and must have had wonderful vitality. Near Tenth Street was a large building used as a manufactory of muskets and revolvers. The rioters had broken in and were helping themselves to everything portable, and, in fact, they were so busy that they did not know that Colonel Lynch's regiment was at hand, and when they did realize that fact it was too late, for, as they came rushing out, they were shot down without mercy. A number of them jumped out of the windows only to be killed or maimed for life as they struck the sidewalk. Quite a large number was killed by soldiers, and those who escaped spread to the different parts of the city and circulated the story that the soldiers would shoot to kill.
That night the riot was nearly ended, for more troops had arrived and the police were again on duty. The next morning the bakers, butchers, and grocers resumed business. Those people who had not a good supply of provisions on hand had a hard time while the riot lasted, as not a single article could be purchased. For three days not a street-car or vehicle of any description could be seen on the streets, nor was a coloured person, male or female, visible during the period; probably the only time in the history of New York that such conditions prevailed, for a New York negro, as a usual thing, is not very bashful about making his presence apparent to all who come in contact with him. The Southern sympathizers were actually the ones who brought on that riot, for they were always up to some mischief, and a few months afterwards assisted Dr. Blackburn to distribute clothing infected with small-pox to the poorer classes in the city, but the plot failed.
Next came the attempt to burn the whole city by starting fires simultaneously in different localities. Each of the firebugs carried a black satchel containing self-igniting chemicals, which were to be dropped on the stairways of the large buildings. Barnum's Museum was set on fire, and several other places also, with but little damage resulting, and, about that time, any one caught with a black satchel would suddenly come to grief.
My wife having recovered from her confinement, and the riot being ended, I went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and underwent a medical examination. Next, I was thoroughly examined in navigation and then in seamanship. Having passed in all, I was ordered to return again in a few days and, in the meantime, to provide myself with the regulation uniform. My money was all spent by that time, so I borrowed enough with which to buy my new outfit. In due time, I received my appointment as an acting ensign in the navy. The pay was thirteen hundred dollars a year. There were three classes of officers in the navy: first, the regulars; second, the volunteers, composed of officers who had resigned previously to the war; and third, the acting officers who volunteered from the merchant service. The rank and pay was the same in all classes. I was at once ordered to the St. Lawrence, for instruction in gunnery. Quite a number of ensigns and masters' mates was on board, getting initiation as to how a ship's battery should be handled. The first day's exercise was sufficient for me; I was pronounced proficient and excused from further drill. The other officers were surprised at my learning my duties so quickly, but I never mentioned my experience on the gunnery-ship Excellent.